A Quiet Moment
by Khilari
Summary: Toy Story 3 spoilers. After one of Bonnie's games Woody and Dolly get to know one another.
1. Chapter 1

'And then the evil wizard sent his _dragon_ out to kill Sir Buzz,' narrated Bonnie, zooming Rex through the air, paper concertina wings fluttering from his shoulders.

She grabbed Chuckles, the loyal court jester to Princess Dolly, currently captive in the highest tower. 'Oh no! There's two of them!' he said.

Trixie, also with taped on wings, was pulled over to join the group. Woody, currently an evil wizard in a hat made of blue paper with crayoned on stars, was made to cackle manically at them. 'You'll never defeat two dragons by yourself.'

'He's not alone!' And there was the noble outlaw Jessie, arrow already nocked on her bow, ready to aim at the nearest dragon.

'Bonnie! Dinner!'

The toys waited until they heard her footsteps thump all the way down the stairs before sitting up. From the shelf where she and Woody were sitting Dolly had a good view of all of them. Jessie was laughing and waving around her twig and rubber band bow, ready to demonstrate it to all and sundry. Buzz, a knight in tin foil armour, was talking to Chuckles while the two dinosaurs had started to chat about their latest video game exploits.

'Now where did Bonnie put my hat?' muttered Woody beside her.

'How about the one you've got?' Dolly teased. 'Don't like being an evil wizard?'

'Being a wizard is fine. The hat is ridiculous,' said Woody, taking it off and waving it at her for emphasis.

'At least you escaped looking like a baked potato,' Dolly offered, with a nod at Buzz.

Woody chuckled and moved to sit next to her, long legs dangling over the edge of the shelf. From below they could hear Potatohead shouting, 'Watch it with that thing, cowgirl. You just shot my eye out.'

'Sorry. Here, I'll help ya find it.'

Woody shook his head at them. 'Those guys never change.'

'How long have you known them?' asked Dolly.

'About ten years for Jessie and Bullseye, a bit longer for most of the others.'

'I can't even imagine,' said Dolly. 'No one here is more than two years old, except Chuckles.'

Woody glanced at her and picked up the wizard hat, twisting it between his hands. 'You've been really great,' he said quietly. 'I mean, we kind of got dumped on you. A whole box of new toys, all at once. And you've all just taken it in stride.'

He gazed at her with large brown eyes, gratitude shaded with guilt. Dolly's first impulse was to point out that it wasn't his fault his owner dropped them off here. But wasn't it just a bit too much of a co-incidence that Andy gave them to someone Woody already knew was good to her toys?

'It's great having you here. We're used to working with a limited cast, but there are more options now we've got a larger range of characters,' she said breezily. 'So,' she added. 'What'd you do? Slip him our address?'

'Um, yeah.'

They all skirted the rules at times, Trixie had an AIM account for Pete's sake, but even so that was pushing it. Dolly wasn't sure whether to be worried or impressed.

'I mean, I didn't give it to him. Just stuck it on the box and hoped for the best.' He shrugged. 'I didn't want the guys to wind up in the attic. Not after everything.'

'I get that.' Not entirely, she'd never thought about attics or being grown out of. She was too young, and so was Bonnie. But she got wanting to take care of the others, wanting everyone to be okay.

'Yeah.' Woody shook himself suddenly and smiled at her. 'C'mon, let's get down and see what the others are up to. Maybe someone knows where my hat is.'


	2. Chapter 2

'Hey, Dolly. Could you give me a hand?'

Dolly looked around to see Woody standing by the base of a chair holding a dolls' china teapot. 'Having a teaparty, cowboy?'

'Haha. No,' Woody said, rolling his eyes. 'I need to water Bonnie's plant, but it's hard to climb while holding this. Mind passing it up to me?'

'Sure.' Dolly took the teapot, a little surprised by how heavy it was when it was full of water. Woody scrambled up onto the seat of the chair and Dolly passed the teapot up to him. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her up as well.

'How did you get this down from the sink?' asked Dolly as Woody climbed onto the back of the chair and motioned for her to pass the teapot up again.

'I didn't. I used the bath tap, it's lower.' Dolly found herself tugged up after him again. 'Okay, nearly there.'

Woody jumped the short distance to the windowsill and Dolly passed the teapot across before following him, not needing his help this time. The miniature rosebush on the window sill had been greatly admired by the toys when it first arrived, it was not only pretty but just their size. Jessie in particular had had great plans for it, mostly to do with Buzz's Spanish mode. It was looking a little sad and wilted now, Bonnie's mother had been busy and Bonnie herself had clearly been neglecting it. Woody poured the contents of the teapot over its roots before patting the soil with a frown.

'I think that'll do for now. Don't want to overdo it. I can give it another drink tomorrow.'

'You do this kind of thing a lot?' asked Dolly, sitting down on the windowsill across from Woody with the rosebush in between them.

'Watering pot plants?' Woody gave her a quizzical look. 'Andy never really had them, so no.'

'Covering for your owner's mistakes.'

'Oh, that. I mean, yeah. They're just kids, they need a hand sometimes.' He sounded flustered and Dolly had to smile. 'You'd do the same, right?'

'If I knew it needed doing,' said Dolly. 'And if I was sure it wouldn't be noticed.'

'This won't be. They'll just assume each other did it, if they even think of it at all.'

They sat there in companionable silence, Dolly thinking while Woody leant forward to watch the toys below. There was something fascinating about the cowboy doll, maybe because he was an older toy. Not that he seemed _old_, he and Jessie both seemed to have a boundless supply of energy and Dolly had seen them both act like kids in a playful mood. But all of Andy's toys had had experiences that Bonnie's hadn't, and that went double for the Round Up gang.

'You know, when you said you'd known the others for about ten years I assumed that was how old you were,' said Dolly. 'But Buzz tells me you're an antique.'

'I'm not an _antique_, I'm a _collector's item_,' said Woody, glaring at the oblivious Buzz. 'And I'm not that either. I'm a toy.'

'But you're from the fifties, right?'

'Well, yeah. And I'm pretty valuable.' And he tipped his hat back and smiled at her, pleased with himself despite his protests of not being a collector's item.

Dolly rolled her eyes at him. 'You sure about that, cowboy. You're not exactly in mint condition.' She reached around the rosebush to give the line of red stitching around the top of his arm a poke, surprised when he looked down at it with nostalgic fondness.

'I think it's pretty good for a seven-year-old. Goes nicely with my shirt.'

'Bonnie helped sew on my buttons,' said Dolly. Woody quirked a smile at her in silent understanding. They both knew what it meant to have a kid leave their mark on you.

'She did a great job,' Woody said. He reached out to touch one of her buttons and Dolly found herself holding her breath without knowing why.

Then Rex and Trixie started yelling about defeating the final boss and Potatohead started yelling about big lizards watching where they put their tails and both dolls slid off the windowsill to go and sort everyone out.


End file.
